Mandi came to me in March 2020 by referral from a realtor. She is a 32 year old single mother of 5 children who was leaving an abusive marriage. Having been a SAHM during her marriage, when the marriage ended she secured herself 2 jobs in March. One a school bus driver and two a PSW at a LTC.

In comes COVID and schools were cancelled, although still employed with the bus company there were no schools open so her bus driving income could not be used to qualify and there was no history to go on as she was just hired. You can also imagine being a single mom of 5 kids and working at a LTC during the height of the COVID pandemic was/is still very stressful. Her position was only guaranteed part time hours at the LTC but her pay cheques were reflective of full time hours. Having only 3 weeks employment before closing, I could only use her part time income to qualify. Mandi’s realtor pressured her into going firm on her purchase 3 days before her finance condition date and without my knowledge. Mandi and I scrambled for a solution and unfortunately she had to be placed in a private mortgage at 9% interest only rate co brokered through a colleague of mine with an MIC.

One week before she moved in her eldest daughter broke her ankle, and one week after moving in her oven door fell off and the oven stopped working. I was recently made aware of some personal struggles her family is now facing. Mandi’s 9 year old daughter Ary was suffering from chronic ear infections and meds weren’t working. She was constantly getting headaches, became clumsy and dizzy and having nose bleeds. Her breath began to smell horrible. She was referred by an ENT to McMaster Children’s Hospital for a CT scan on her brain. 2 Tumours were found. She started on Oral chemo as a precaution. Mandi’s daughter Ary is in surgery as I write this, they will be taking some bone from her skull and replacing it with bone from her hip. They will be removing her ear as the tumour has caused too much damage to her ear drum and Ary will need ear reconstructive surgery and may or may not get her hearing back. She is unsure if both tumours will be removed today or just one, however they will biopsy them to find out what they are dealing with. Worst case scenario would be squamous cell carcinoma which we are praying is not the case.

Mandi has taken leave from work to care and be with her daughter. She is currently on EI, CCB and Trillium benefits for income along with some child support from her ex. Her LTC employer is guaranteeing her position whenever she chooses to come back. Mandi’s 9% interest mortgage is coming up for renewal in April and my hopes of being able to transfer her to a better rate/lender in April are dwindling as I was planning on using her income from the LTC and school bus as she would have more history to work with, so with her daughter ill and Mandi not working I felt compelled to try and help this family. If Mandi and her family are chosen the money would help pay her mortgage and allow Mandi to be able to care for her daughter longer.